


Sunsets and Sunrises

by xBubble_Teax



Category: the GazettE
Genre: Boys Kissing, Comedy, First Love, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, POV First Person, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 20:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10929420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xBubble_Teax/pseuds/xBubble_Teax
Summary: Kai can't bring himself to enjoy his summer vacations abroad, especially with a divorced, overprotective mother and his childish older brother, Aoi. But all that changes with a sunset and a stranger with a band on his nose....





	Sunsets and Sunrises

*

 

I hate holidays. Always have, always will.

And for some completely annoying reason, I never put up a tantrum whenever Mum manages to arrange another boring, waste of money, rip off airline featured vacation.

It was the very agony dwelling inside of me as I’d watched my older brother of two years, Aoi, bouncing around our bedroom, vacating our shared wardrobe of the collection of sandals that had grown steadily in size these past few years.

Most of them were from previous trips abroad anyway. And I really didn’t see the reason why he had to have such a large amount, when he was only going to buy more the next time we went out of the country,

“Come on Kai, help me pack!!”

I refrained from sighing heavily and dropped my manga comic, tapping it under the bed with my foot - Aoi had a habit of spreading graffiti over my favourite characters.

On one incident, Goku from Dragonball had grown a huge moustache and glasses twice the size of his face; scribbled along his perfectly sketched form in messy red pen, the artwork no doubt belonging to Aoi’s hand.

I smirk as I remembered how I’d stolen his precious surfboard and had held it over a cliff not too far from our house; threatening to drop it unless he bought me a new comic every time he’d messed up the old one.

Even though I’d pretty much assumed my punishment had got through to him, I still find small sketches in the corners of the pages; one in particular being a large, hairy penis with my name written in capital letters at the side, not just underlined once... but twice.

I feel suddenly sick at Aoi’s movements; prancing back and forth along the carpet like a fairy princess, the suitcase already stacked high to its maximum, even though my idiotic excuse for a brother insists on adding more footwear to the bulge,

“Aoi, you really think they’re going to let you through customs with all those useless sandals?” I sighed, looking to the bag Aoi had kindly set out for me on my own bed, and pursed my lips, thinking maybe I should pack my own case before Mum throws a fit,

“They’re not useless!!” Aoi insisted, and he emerged from the wardrobe with a pair in each hand; one just a simple pair of black flip flops while the other set was a bright orange, a toe divider screaming ‘painful’ the more I stared at it, “I’ve got one for every day of the week!!”

“And enough to shoe Africa.” I mumbled, watching him toss the black pair aside and squeeze the chosen orange ones into a teeny spot next to his underwear,

“DONE!!” Aoi raised his arms in the air, and mimicked cradling a trophy high above his head.

He soon became bored as he watched me trudge blindly around the room, wondering what on earth I should put in next aside from my one pair of holiday sneakers, a ripped pair of cut off jeans and one white shirt – also ripped to shreds.

Minutes later, I was being shoved aside, and was once again audience to Aoi’s fairy dance,

“Boys are you almost ready?!” Our mother shouted up, and I heard car keys rattle from down the stairs, “I want the car all set and ready to go! We have to be at the airport in two hours!”

“Yeah, we’re almost ready Mum!” Aoi called down, before I even had chance to explain my failure at packing on time, “Kai’s just packing his dildo.”

“My WHAT?!”

“What’s Kai doing, Aoi?”

“Oh... I said he’s just finding his lilo!!” Aoi called again, this time with a hand at his neck and my fist next to his face.

Half an hour later, and I was reminded of another thing I hate about holidays.

The journey _there_ ,

“Mum... I feel carsick.” Aoi moaned, and I turned to see him clutching his stomach, looking extremely pale around the cheeks,

“I told you not to eat all the crab ramen you fat pig!!” I bellow, noticing the dozens of empty sweet packets stuffed in the side pocket of the car door,

“I’m sorry, Aoi, I can’t stop.” Mum said sympathetically, and I watched as a huge road sign zoomed past us, “Look we’re almost there.”

“I... need to get out.” Aoi inched forward and gagged, “I really am gonna be sick.”

“Oh don’t you dare!” I scream, noticing Aoi reach out to grab my arm, “Mum!! Tell him to get a bag or something!”

“Oh Kai calm down, it’s not like he’s having a heart attack.”

“ _I_ will be if he pukes his guts all over me!!” I felt Aoi’s grip on my arm increase, and I could have sworn there were hints of green along his skin now, “Aoi t-turn away!! Get one of those packets... hang out the window... _swallow it even!!_ God, Aoi, don’t you dare – !“

Aoi coughs and hunches forward, towards me, convulsing heavily, and I already know it’s too late to reach for the carrier bag lying underneath my feet.

I close my eyes...

*

“Man, I’m sorry, Kai. I never meant to get you so bad.”

If it wasn’t for my hands occupied over my ears, preventing them from popping, I would have probably have them wrapped around Aoi’s throat right about now,

“Aoi... I _told_ you to turn away.” I moan, partially deafened from the Boeing’s engine booming behind us as well as the high screech blaring in my left ear.

Aoi bites his lip and turns back to looking out the window, the bright sun shining against his now-normal face colour,

“I know... I guess I couldn’t help it.”

“Yeah, damn right you couldn’t.” I grimace at the way I’d had to sit in the car the remainder of the journey, stinking of crab ramen and a strong horrible smell of shellfish hitting my nostrils at every oxygen intake. Since Aoi had felt completely better by the time he’d emptied his stomach contents onto me, Mum had told him to clean up the chunky bits sitting on my shirt; although, judging by the amount of times Aoi has apologised to me in the past four hours, I’d guessed he would have done it himself out of guilt.

Still, it was nice to be sitting here in a fresh new shirt, after persuading the airport staff that it was an emergency that meant we had to open our luggage. Although, in my defence, I’m not really the terrorist looking type. That’s more Aoi’s field,

“Hey, umm –“ Mum is sitting on my right, reading a magazine and listening to the shitty R&B music stored on board the plane, so Aoi can’t pester her for anything and instead it’s me who takes the punishment for being piggy in the middle,

“What, Aoi? Does your intestine want to give me another present?” I forgot to charge my mp3 player, so I’m already in a foul mood, and would much rather enjoy Utada Hikaru’s soft voice caressing my ears instead of rattling engines and my pea-brained brother’s constant nagging,

“Oh no, I was wondering if you were going to finish that?” He points to the open tray in front of me and I look down.

Ugh, plane food. If it wasn’t for me wearing a fresh shirt, maybe I would have joined Aoi in spewing my guts,

“No.” I push it away with a grimace, all of a sudden losing my appetite as I watch the ramen – rather ‘soup with about three noodles floating in the middle’ – wobble about with the plane’s vibrations, “You can eat it. I’m not hungry.”

Aoi beams and adds it to his own tray, joining the other empty meal he’d attacked earlier, and I try not to watch as he sets about digging in. It was repulsive enough just watching him the first time.

I sigh, and take out my manga comic; a collection of which I had prepared for the hourly plane trip, and turn to a random page, anything just to divert me from Aoi’s audible slurping beside me.

Pikachu stares back at me from a Pokémon advert splashed in bright colours across one entire page; and I suddenly realise how homesick I feel.

 

*

The hotels are never that bad. I guess I should be thankful for that.

It’s not like me and Aoi have to share a bed – like we always had to do when we were kids. If nights could get any more comfortable, I’d rather have slept on a bed of nails surrounded by venomous snakes than have to put up with Aoi’s semi-conscious karate skills. I couldn't even count the times when I’d been awoken at some crazy midnight hour by punches, kicks, slaps, the odd elbow to the ribs; on one occasion there was a karate chop to my neck; and I temporarily blamed Aoi for thinking he’d dislodged my spine, until Mum told me I would have been paralysed, possibly dead, if that were to happen.

Again, I was back watching Aoi prattle about the room – he was always in such an excited skippy mood when we were going somewhere new. Even if it was the new sushi restaurant at the mall, I’d be walking side by side with cartwheels.

It never did come as a surprise to me when Mum told me that the midwife had thought Aoi had originally been a baby girl during an ultrasound...

Aoi takes my hand and pulls me along to the balcony, where I’m forced to look out into the bright sun and the sparkling ocean glimmering pleasantly along the beach not too far away from our hotel, although from here I can’t tell how busy it is, thanks to the palm trees sitting in a forest in between;

“Hey Mum, after we’ve unpacked, can we go to the beach?!” Aoi bounces on his toes as he leans over the bars eagerly, squinting his eyes against the sun; setting now since it’s almost dusk,

“Not yet, Aoi, I don’t want you going off on your own just yet.” Mum calls back, and I hear her hanging up clothes in the wardrobes provided, “Let’s just get to know the place first hm?”

I’d expected Aoi to sulk when he didn’t get his own way; as he does very often at home, but he seemed all the more willing to explore when we went for a walk around the area.

I trudged along behind my family, Aoi tapping my shoulder when we passed a restaurant sitting open in an ivory courtyard, and the chefs could be seen preparing everyone’s meals while the customers watched, applauding when the halibut landed in the pan the right way up.

Despite the beauty of the holiday destination, the relaxing atmosphere and the trouble Mum went to to get time off work just to be able to book this holiday, I couldn’t help but think that Dad should be here as well.

Every time I asked Mum why he hadn’t come with us, I never got an answer. I’d tried calling Dad at least four times a day for the past month or so, but his receptionist said that he was extremely busy with patients (My Dad is a dentist) and wouldn’t be able to get time off to go on a holiday even if he wanted to.

That did little to comfort me, and after I’d brought up the subject again once we were back in the hotel room, Aoi ushered me out of the door before I could finish wrecking the entire trip,

“Christ, Kai, what’s wrong with you?!” Again, I let him pull me along the hotel corridor, and again listened to his high tone of voice that he adopts when lecturing in his big-brother demeanour, “You can’t upset Mum like that, I mean, look, Kai, we’re on vacation!”

I step into the elevator without hesitation,

“What does that matter?!” I spit back after a while, folding my arms and wishing it would hurry up and get to the bottom already, “Only the place has changed, _not_ the situation!”

Aoi runs a hand over his face, “You can’t keep blaming Mum every time Dad doesn’t want to do something with us.”

“She could have at least told me the truth.” I mumble, my cheeks already hot despite the extra air conditioning in the building.

I know I must sound like a complete immature child; as Aoi always used to tell me three years ago when I was twelve, but I can’t help but want our family back the way things were,

“I hate divorce.” I whisper, and I get teary as I even mention the word, folding my arms tight across my chest to control the wheezing in my stomach, “I wish it never existed.”

Aoi outstretches an arm to ruffle my hair; in that brotherly way he knows is the one thing I only appreciate coming from him; everything else I detest, “I know kiddo.” he murmurs, and looks up to see which floor we’re on; I don’t necessarily care any more, “But you’ve got me here.”

I roll my eyes and shuffle from one foot to the other, “Well aren’t you a God fucking blessing huh?”

His fingers through my hair turn to yanking out a few strands and I yelp, “You know, I’m actually glad I puked on you, you little shit.”

Despite the pain on the top of my head, I smile a little, and we walk to the beach together once out of the elevator and past the hotel.

The beach is a lot warmer than I thought it might have been, and I already hear the soft roll of the waves against the shore as we get closer, and Aoi removes his sandals to feel the sand mould underneath his feet.

I do the same, and my shoes clunk at my side as I carry them limply, soon drowned out by excited voices up ahead,

“Ooh look Kai!!” Aoi jabs a finger in my ribs, and I look to where he’s pointing – a tall volleyball net and a beach bar not too far ahead; a huge group of people playing already and I guess that’s where the ruckus is coming from,

“You up for a game?” Aoi smirks, and I already know the answer – Aoi has always been the sportier of the two of us. I couldn’t even kick a football – and that’s _when_ it’s stood still,

“Nah, it’s okay, I’ll watch.” I smile, and Aoi soon races off to join the others, and they seem nice, or rather _crazy_ , enough to let him join in.

Halfway through and I get bored of watching an inflatable white ball bounce back and forth over and over again, and instead resort to writing my name in the sand with a stick. When that no longer amuses me, I get up and decide to go for a walk, leaving my shoes by the bar, figuring they’ll be safe enough there.

Before long, I’m lost in my thoughts and turn around to find I’ve wandered quite a way away from the game, the shouts and excited applause every time a goal is scored suddenly a lot quieter.

It’s almost sundown too, I notice, and I look at the orange sky looking strangely beautiful up ahead. I’ve never seen the sunset with my own eyes before, so I sit beside a slanted old palm tree, and sit on the sand, feeling it shift under my weight.

The peace is nice, only me and the crickets, and I kind of wish this atmosphere was available to me back home. The amount of times something has gotten broken due to my mood swings...

I smirk; maybe the midwife mistook me for a girl too.

I sigh and stretch out to lie across the sand, pillowing my head in my arms as I stare up at the sky, and the broken clouds drifting lazily past. If Dad was here maybe he would be sat with me now; Aoi was always a Mummy’s boy, I swung more in the direction of my Dad, which I think has started to take effect because Aoi has always had a touch of girlishness about him, while I sit sulking most of the time in my room; much like Dad did before he and Mum broke up.

I close my eyes and feel a tear slip down my cheek, remembering how we used to go out every Sunday to the park in Summer, and Dad would treat us to ice creams while Mum paid for us to play on the bouncy castle and at all the fairground rides. Then we’d drive home and me and Aoi would always be fast asleep in the back of the car, and our parents would carry us to bed, and we’d wake up in the same clothes we were wearing the night before, safely tucked under our quilts.

I’d give anything to have those days back. It was all the happiness my childhood was built around; no longer sneaking off on blissful holidays such as this one, while Dad stays at home working just to buy me and Aoi birthday and Christmas presents and take us out places when we go visit him.

Life is such a shithole, I realised what all those soap dramas on TV were talking about now, although I never believed it because I had the perfect family. Still do, to an extent but... we’re not together.

Family is unity... and we’re the complete opposite now.

I open my eyes to face a blurry dark blue, the orange now faded and the night suddenly settling in. I wipe my eyes and sit up, hoping that I haven’t missed the sunset.

I startle when I find a pair of legs stood in front of me,

“Oh hey! I’m sorry; I never meant to wake you!”

I curse and rub my eyes again, squinting to see who it is standing above me, although at the moment all I can make out is a tuft of blonde hair, and something white on his face,

“Are you okay?” I hear the blonde ask, and he kneels beside me as I shake the sand out of my hair, “Did it get in your eye?”

I grimace and find I can’t open it like I so very much want to, and it hurts every time I try,

“Yeah I think so...” I murmur, “Ouch!”

“Here let me see.” he pries my hands away with warm fingers, “You’ll do no good poking yourself like that.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t have stood there like that.” I laugh and clutch my chest, “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

I feel his finger run across my eyelid and into the corner, and before long the irritation in my lower lid is gone and I find I can open it properly, focusing on a kind, pearly white smile and sensitive face,

“Hello.” the other smiles and waves and I do the same, “Yeah... sorry, I never meant to startle you like that.”

I smile meekly and shrug, catching how his eyes focus on the one dimple sitting on the corner of my mouth – a feature Mum calls my “charm point”,

“What were you doing stood like that anyway?” I asked, desperate to get him to take his eyes off of my dimple, finding it incredibly unsettling, “Watching me?”

“Well...” the blonde shrugged and I realise he’d been holding a blanket in his hands, bringing it up to drape across his knee, “You were kinda in my spot.”

“ _Your_ spot?” I scour the ground around me; although I know I probably won’t find a sign or a copyright label on the sand anywhere,

“Yeah.” the other simply smiles, “I always come here to watch the waves and... oh, well, I think I’ve missed the sunset.”

I look out to the waves too, and the moon now emerging from behind the water instead, “Yeah. I kind of came here for that too.”

“Bad day huh?”

I nod, probably acknowledging how terrible I must look from that little bit of crying I did earlier. Aoi has always said I’m too easy to read; which probably explains how he knew I’d eaten the last Pocky stick and lied to him, blaming it on the dog instead a few weeks back,

“Here.” the blonde nudges me gently aside and I stand, where he lets his red blanket roll out, and he lays it gently against the sand, smoothing it out for him to sit on,

“Come on.” he pats the spot next to him, where I was just sat, and I join him, suddenly thankful to have a bit of company – and the boy looks about my age too,

“What’s your name?” I ask him, and I pause to look at his face properly while he sets about answering.

I realise my next question is going to _have_ to be why he’s wearing that white... band thing on his nose,

“Oh, I’m Reita.” he holds out a hand with a smile and I shake it, giving my name in exchange,

“What’s that on your nose?” I point to it, “Are you part of a tribe or a cult or something?”

Reita snorts and starts to giggle, “No! What the hell are you talking about?!”

I shrug and wrap my arms around my legs, watching Reita lean back and bring a hand to rest under his head, looking straight up at the sky like I was,

“Then?” I ask, moments later, the gentle sweeps of the ocean waves coming ashore getting closer to our bare feet,

“Have you ever felt like you’ve wanted to cover a part of yourself?” Reita asks, softly into the night sky and his eyes glisten the more I watch him.

He’s fairly tanned and toned, and I’m guessing he lives here or has been on holiday for a while,

“Yes.” I nod, “I feel like that most days.”

“Then...” Reita taps his nose, “That’s what this is for.”

My eyebrow rises automatically, “It had to be your nose?”

Reita chuckles, and I get to like the sound of his laugh; there’s such a deep and calming demeanour about it that lifts me,

“Everyone says that.” he smiles, showing off those stunning teeth once again, “But yeah. I don’t hate my nose, I think it’s fine but... it makes me more mysterious – the fact that people don’t know what it looks like.”

I rest my chin on my knee, “Can _I_ see it?”

Reita turns to look at me oddly, and I notice him stare at my dimple again when I giggle,

“Certainly not.” he mumbles with a grin, and I’m almost certain that’s his particular charm point. Either that or the visible muscles on his upper arms – loads of girls in my neighbourhood would go on that alone,

“Are you on holiday too?” I ask after a minute, wanting to know more about this mysterious Reita. No doubt Aoi would laugh if he knew we’d met by me poking myself in the eye.

Reita shakes his head, “Nah. My parents own a tavern not too far from here.”

“Oh.” I stare out to the ocean again, hearing the volleyball players cheer in the distance as another goal is scored, “Such a shame about that sunset.” I sigh at last.

Reita shifts his head, and I can see him staring up at me from the corner of my eye,

“Why are you so desperate to see the sunset?”

I shrug, “I don’t know.”

I notice his mouth stretch, and I turn back to his tight grin, “I do.” Reita says, his eyes still glistening and I say nothing, wanting to hear more,

“You know, Kai, people don’t just watch sunsets for their beauty or because it’s ‘romantic’.” Reita pulls a face on that word, and it fizzles my depiction of his sexual popularity with the girls after all,  
  
“Then... what do they watch them for?”

Reita holds up a finger and sits up, turning to face me properly,

“You said you’d had a bad day right?”

I shrug and, in a brief montage in my head, replay the events of the last twenty-four hours, “I guess it has been kind of... a drag.” I don’t know what else to call it,

“Well there you are then.”

I flinch as Reita takes hold of one of my hands, and very gently, he runs a finger over the creases in my palm,

“People watch sunsets, Kai, because they long for the day to be over.” Reita says at last.

His touch starts to tickle, but I don’t want to laugh since he sounds so serious about the sunset thing,

“I-I don’t understand.” I murmur, and Reita changes direction in my palm, stroking anti-clockwise instead,

“Most people that are in pain or that have lived with a lot of grief for a large amount of time...“ he speaks softly, and accompanied with the strange, but nice, stroking on my hand, I get to be quite comfortable, “... Want some kind of proof that one day all that pain will be over and they can finally move on and be happy,”

I don’t know what to say, so I nod, and keep my eyes on his finger, now tracing wave patterns along my skin; and I notice he tries to match it to the audio of the real waves washing up next to us,

“When people watch the sunset for themselves, Kai, it’s proof that another day of pain has ended. A lot simply believe that the fresh day to come will be better, or that it will be a new start.” Reita shrugs, “Many get disappointed. But.” he stops stroking my hand, and I almost let out a whimper, “Do you know what they do Kai?”

I don’t want to think. I want him to tell me the answer; in that soft voice, and pearly smile and bouncy chuckle, and so I shake my head,

“They keep watching sunsets.” Reita smiles and I smile back as his finger resumes moving against my hand, and I shuffle closer to him, getting to like this feeling; albeit from a guy I’ve barely known for ten minutes.

Any onlooker would have probably thought Reita was giving me a palm reading, or a séance of some kind, but at the minute I was too lost in his touch to worry about anyone watching. Aoi was most likely still preoccupied in the volleyball game as I could hear the shouts continue nearby, so there was no chance he would do the big brotherly honour and embarrass me,

“Do you watch sunsets often?” I whisper, and a tingle sweeps up my spine as I notice our knees are touching, us both sat cross-legged now, “You said you’d come here to watch it too.”

Reita nods, “Watching the sun drift away is like it’s taking all my problems with it. And the moon replaces it with a new beginning. Like an empty shell waiting to be filled.”

Reita takes his finger away and gives me back my hand, much to my disappointment,

“Do you see?” Reita murmurs, and he points to the sky, and I watch the stars twinkle ahead as though agreeing with him,

“I-I think so...” I whisper, and reach out to take one of his hands; not properly knowing what I’m doing before I’m repeating the same actions he did to me; although my clumsy movements may not be as soft and gentle as Reita’s,

“Kai...?” Reita murmurs.

I only shrug, “You did it to me. It felt nice.”

We don’t really talk much then, apart from that the rest of the night is spent with us exchanging brief words of sentimental value. Reita talks about how he grew up although I don’t really listen to much of it, his soft voice making me feel sleepy and my ears kind of cut off for a while, my fingers becoming lazy against his skin.

We eventually fall onto the blanket and watch the sky above for what seems hours.

It seems to have been that way too, when I hear Aoi’s voice shouting my name from nearby,

“Over here Aoi!!” I reply and wave an arm above my head, to which my brother gives a thumbs up in return, glad to know I’m safe before he beckons me over and waves my abandoned shoes at me.

I turn to Reita, who is almost asleep at my side, and doesn’t seem to have registered Aoi’s loud voice or mine and so I poke him gently in his belly, which gains the reaction I wanted, and the blonde shoots up straight,

“I’m sorry.” I shrug, “I kind of have to go now.”

“Oh...” Reita yawns widely, stretching his arms high above his head, “That’s okay, don’t let me stop you.”

“Thank you for letting me sit with you.” I bow my head, and pause,   
  
“A-And for getting the sand out my eye, and for talking with me, and for saying about the sunsets and for the...” I mimic the action he did on my hand, “... I really enjoyed myself.” I finished, waving Aoi aside as he called me again; my way of telling him I’ll only be a minute,

“No problem.” Reita smiles up at me, and it’s just enough to make me melt, before he’s getting to his feet too and rolling up the blanket, tucking it back under his arm.

I licked my lips nervously, “Will you... be here again tomorrow?”

Reita nods, “I’ll bring some snacks. See you.”

“Bye!!” I wave like crazy, running back to Aoi excitedly as though I’d just come home from a date and had gotten lucky,

“Hey Chibi-chan.” Aoi messes up my hair as soon as I arrive, and I scowl for the nickname he gives me,

“Watch what you say, Lanky Legs.” I giggle, as Aoi bashes me over the head with one of his smelly sandals,

“What were you up to anyway?” Aoi glanced past my shoulder, even though Reita had already gone, “I hadn’t seen you half of the night.”

“I met someone.” I beamed, practically bouncing in my steps as we trudged back along the beach, the night air suddenly colder and I guessed it was almost midnight or nearing to that time anyway, “He let me use his blanket and we were talking for ages.”

“Oh yeah?” Aoi punches my arm playfully, increasing the size in his steps to catch up with me, “And what’s this friend's name?”

I smile, and touch the dimple on my cheek with a tentative finger,

“He’s called Reita.”

*

 

Lucky for me, the next evening Mum wanted to get some supplies for the mini-fridge in our hotel room and so I went with her, figuring me and Reita would probably need something to drink as well if he was going to bring the snacks.

I played safe and bought two bottles of water each, and two smaller bottles of orange juice as a last minute buy, just in case the water ran out quickly.

I’d also borrowed Aoi’s sandals, and walked like I was wearing flippers – Aoi’s feet were huge!!

It turned out that Aoi had been asked to go to a drinking party that was being held by the volleyball people, and so that meant he could take me back to the beach,

“What’s Mum doing tonight?” I asked as we walked along the shore, my bottled refreshments safely nestled in the plastic bag I was carrying, as well as some alcohol Aoi had brought to the party.

My brother shrugged, “She got talking to some people at the karaoke night in one of the taverns. I think she’s meeting them for some drinks.” he glanced briefly down at me, “Don’t worry, squirt, we’re not leaving her. She thinks it’s nice that me and you have met new people.”

“Really?” Aoi waves to one of his friends over by the volleyball net, a few of them already practicing for their next game, and they even greet me with a just as enthusiastic wave.

Politely, I return the favour, and after Aoi reassures me again that Mum is fine, and I decline an offer to play for one of the volleyball teams, I jog further up the beach to look for Reita.

I smile when I see the familiar palm tree, and I feel my smile broaden when I spy the red blanket rolled up neatly next to a picnic basket.

As I get closer, I realise there’s something written in the sand, the stick Reita had used stuck in a nearby rock,

_Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back, Reita xx_

I look around to see if he’s on his way, or if he’d just left, but put it to the back of my mind as I erase the writing in the sand and set about laying out Reita’s blanket, patting it down to make it smoother.

I also saw there was a chequered black and white one set underneath it, and as the weather had decreased dramatically in temperature tonight, I guessed he’d brought it to keep us warm.

I snuggled underneath once I’d draped it on top, liking the softness against my skin and I waited a few more minutes before unable to hold back temptation and peek into the picnic basket.

I propped it on my knee and opened the lid to peer inside, surprised when Reita had laid out an assortment of food inside; presented so neatly and exquisitely.

There was a basket of red apples, bananas, mangoes and several grapes set in one corner, and next to that there were several types of sandwiches, cut into neat triangles and with the crusts cut off. Reita had even gone to the trouble of preparing some raw sushi dishes, and there were several layers of chocolate cake on a plate in the middle. A bowl of strawberries and raspberries lay next to that, and in the very last space there were a few mini bottles of what looked like sake, as well as an assortment of jams and marmalades tucked beside them. There was also a separate box next to the picnic basket, and when I peeked into that as well, there were several potato snacks sitting inside, alongside a few nachos and other small nibbles mixed together.

Reita arrived moments later, wearing only a pair of swimming trunks tonight, and this time he was wearing a black band around his nose, of which I thought looked better than the white I’d initially seen him with,

“Good evening.” he smiled, dropping to his knees and laying a smooth hand on my shoulder, “Is this okay?”

I think even my dimple was smiling as I beamed back at him, “It’s... Reita it’s perfect,” I held up my bag, “I brought some drinks too.”

Reita chuckled, taking them out and setting them next to the rest of the food, “Well, looks like we’re in for a long night.” he glanced over my shoulder and nodded to the party happening further down, jazz band music echoing at just the right volume, “I hope those guys stay here all night too.”

I smile as Reita snuggles underneath the cover of the blankets, a sudden gust of night air sharpening his nipples greatly,

“Right.” he rubbed his hands together and brought the picnic basket in the middle, setting it down between us, “Eat, drink, and... Kai?”

I freeze with an apple already in my hand, “Yes?”

The blonde merely smiles and I watch his eyes shine; in the very same way I had dreamt about last night while I had slept in my hotel room, thinking of nothing but him the whole time,

“Kai... we’ve missed the sunset.”

I shook my head, “But.... this is the good part of our day, right? Who needs sunsets..?”

I watched Reita’s eyes narrow and he leaned in to pick out a strawberry, holding it near my mouth,

“Not us.”

I found myself wanting more and more of these nights the more the holiday progressed. Every evening me and Reita spent together, we said very few words in the many hours we were in each other’s company, and the stuff we _did_ talk about didn’t necessarily matter anyway; we were most likely never to see each other again. I learned a lot of things about Reita that would take a lifetime of friendship to confess to, but at least we had something in common.

Reita’s parents were divorced too.

It was that that allowed me to cry on the seventh day of meeting him, this time without Aoi. Once we’d eaten almost every last piece of Reita’s picnic, of which he’d told me they were what the tavern’s chefs made for him, we’d lain shoulder to shoulder, face to face with the stars above and I spilled out the whole horrible story. About Dad and this holiday, about Mum and her distrust. About me and my moods. About Aoi and his determination to keep both sides of the family together. My childhood, the good times, the bad... everything spilled out – to a stranger and the band across his nose,

“Oh Kai.” he murmured, smoothing an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close, the skin of his chest much more softer than I had dreamt it to be, and I let my tears moisten it.

By the following night, I was kissing him.

Food wasn’t generally an issue, and I preferred to wrap my lips around him instead, enjoying the feeling given when Reita rolled on top of me underneath the blankets and our hips rubbed together, causing a friction I’d never before felt until now.

The people at the volleyball game had instead gone to the other side of town and a surfing contest over there.

Aoi had gone of course, most likely to participate even though he had strongly declared he would never use a rented surfboard in his life ever again, not after the last one split under his weight and he plummeted into the ocean from riding a fifteen foot wave.

Reita had giggled when I’d told that story; with his hand down underneath my shorts and stroking what Aoi had drawn on the corners of my manga books, although Reita was the fairer argument in knowing my cock wasn’t hairy.

Three days after that, and after I’d re-packed my suitcase and left my mother happy with my strangely organised approach, I’d fled the hotel room and came straight here to him.

I’d written a message in the sand this afternoon in the hope that he’d see it and come and meet me.

Sure enough, there was the picnic basket waiting for me, and two layers of blankets with the noseband in between, back to its original colour of white,

“You’re early.” Reita announces, pulling me into his arms the minute I slip underneath, “Why the change in time?”

I pull back, tears in my eyes as I ponder the thought of leaving him, “I’m going back home, to Japan, in about two hours.”

Reita’s thumbs stroke the skin at my hips, of where his hands were resting in a perfectly gentle hold, “I see.” he smiled,

“I wanted us to watch the sunset together before I left.” I tell him, glancing up at the orange sky overhead and feeling the light of the sun burn against one side of my face, casting an irresistible shadow against Reita’s body,

“Kai...” Reita lectures, giving me a small squeeze, “Sunsets are for people in pain. You’re not one of those anymore.”

“No, I know.” I cup his face gently with my hands and press a small kiss to his lips, “But who says people just watch it for that? What happened to looking at it for beauty’s sake?”

Reita stared back at me, and I held my gaze, no matter how watery it was becoming,

“If I wanted beauty, Kai, all I’d have to do was look at you.”

I blush, hard, and turn to see the sun was already starting to go down,

“Reita, look!” I point to the horizon and the bright orange beams bursting from behind the ocean, the meeting points coming to contact and creating a bright silhouette against the sky.

I never took my eyes off of it the whole time, “When I look back at my life in fifty years time, I want to remember you.”

“You will –“

“No.” I cut him off, knowing there are a lot of things he still doesn’t know about me – one of them being my goldfish comparison of a memory, “Every time I look at a sunset, I want to think of you. Remember you...”

I push him down against the blanket, lining kisses against his neck,

“What do you want me to do?” he breathes.

There’s only one answer I want,

“Make love to me at sundown.”

And I made love...

_To a stranger with the band across his nose._

*

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Another cross-post fic from LiveJournal. A little unedited and messy since I wrote it until 2am in the morning~ but I hope you enjoy it all the same ^^ <3


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